It seems that everyone wants to be the next best blogger and I keep meeting people who tell me how they are it! The blogging world’s answer in the quest to find the ultimate blogging expert yet many of these simply fall flat on their faces after just a few attempts. The new and determined blogger starts a blog with hopes to entice a huge readership and hitting the big time and what is the first thing that they do? Choose a domain name after hours of deliberation, spends hours upon hours looking at other premium blogs for ideas and then of course they have to install every plug in possible……So what’s the problem? Too much thinking and not enough focus.
Blogging does not have to be technical and putting too much thought into it and using flashy gizmos does not help you to become a great blogger. You must decide what your niche is, and believe me you really need a niche, and then knuckle down and create blogs aimed at your target audience. Obsessing over the design of the blog and all the others ins and outs can be done later, if at all, and all you need to do to get started is have a goal and get focused on delivering the goods.
If you want to generate traffic and keep it there then there are a few things you can do. Deciding on who your target audience is, is the key to your success. Who are you writing to? What do they want to read about? Why? Blogging is similar to starting a fire as you throw something into the fire and watch it catch alight or burn out; depending on how others react to what you have written. It is similar to starting off a conversation with your readers and offer them content that interests them as well as stirs up emotions. Wandering off track with your focus will result in a loss of readership and controlling your traffic loss is all about keeping your readers entertained. Before you choose your domain name you have to know who you want to connect with and what they want from you.
Forget about fancy plug ins at this point as well as all of the planning activities and things that do little more than simply waste our time and get focused on your content. Then you have to stick to it! Jumping from one amazing idea to the next just because people don’t flock in their droves within the first five minutes is not a good way to start. Successful blogging, just as with search engine optimisation as a whole, take time so create the content, then tweak it then give it some time.
SEO is a complicated business which is why it is essential that you let a professional Internet marketing company employ an SEO strategy for you. Here at the UK SEO Agency we will provide you with a personalised quote to cater specifically to your needs; however small or big the project.
In my last post I covered the first three of my top five blogging fallacies and in this post I will complete my list. In the first part of my list I talked about how you should not assume that fellow bloggers will always lend a helping hand as some will think of you as competition and others will consider you simply unworthy of their help. Of course there are many that will help but my point was simply that you should not assume that everyone will.
I also talked about how what you are blogging about is more important than how you write it. Blogs are unique in the fact that they don’t require a high level of wording as they are in place to evoke feelings and responses rather than inform like a book or newspaper would. Lastly, I spoke about how promotion of a blog is hugely important and that it is simply not good enough to assume that just because you write a blog it does not mean that everyone will read it.
I will finish my list and go into my last two points in my top five blogging fallacies:
4. Blogging is easy
Just because you don’t have to write with long and arduous words it does not mean that blogging is easy. Firstly, finding the spare time to blog can be tricky for many, especially those who work full time or have families at home. If you are short of time and write rushed blogs it will be painfully obvious in your posts, which will lead to a lack of readership through discontentment about what you have created or sheer boredom. You have to be consistent with the level, quality and substance of your blogging as well as subject matters. You cannot simply post at random as your readers will be more inclined to value your blogs if they know when you will be placing new ones on the website.
5. Money will come in from blogging straight away
This is a slightly grey area as some will claim that money will only start to be made from blogs after you have established a readership but others will claim that there Times supplement piece will have a following without much effort and therefore money will come in straight away. Money often comes in from advertising and advertising can be done before you establish a readership or after but it is far more likely that you will only gain money from advertising after you have established your readership. Nine times out of ten, people won’t want to pay out for advertising on a blogging space that has yet to prove its worth.
Blogging is a unique way to communicate with people from all over the world from all walks of life and it is an important part of SEO. Knowing and understanding some of the misconceptions is a great way to get started as you will be under no illusions when it comes to what you can expect from your blogs.
There are countless mistakes that can be made when creating an SEO strategy and there are many myths and misconceptions floating about relating to what you should do, when, how and why. Blogging is a huge part of search engine optimisation and there are many fallacies as far as what we should expect when we blog.
Here is a list of my top five blogging myths:
1. Great writing means everyone will read my blog
False, people will read your blog because it is interesting not because you use numerous long words that nobody really understands. Good blogging is not all about using incomprehensible wording, it is about stirring up feelings and creating a reaction. Writing a blog is different to all other types of writing and how you may write a book or news article is not how you create a blog. High value content on the other hand is exactly what you need to focus on, but in blogs, value is measured less on how you string your sentences together and more on what you are actually writing about. Keep your audience at the forefront of your mind and you can only do this over time as you will need to get to know your readership before you can aim specific blogs at them. Encourage them to leave comments and feedback as well as their own blogs on your site and just as with any type of relationship; you will build a trust and a communication with them and you will soon learn what stirs up their feelings.
2. If you write a blog everyone will read it
The internet is such a vast playing field that you cannot assume that you will get noticed. If you promote it well enough then they should flock so it is more about promotion rather than writing. You can write the best blog in the world and if nobody knows how or where it is then what is the point? You have to be seen within the blogosphere in order to gain yourself a large readership.
3. Bloggers stick together
Not all bloggers stick together although many do and many will be helpful you should not assume that a fellow blogger will have your back because they won’t. Some are savvy enough to understand that if they scratch your back you will scratch theirs but others simply view you as competition. And then there are the others that simply feel that you are not worthy of their support and therefore they will ignore you at all costs. In my opinion, blogging should not be a competitive space but it should be more of a nurturing one where everybody has the unique chance to help everybody else.
I will continue the rest of my list in my next blog……………..
